Saina Nehwal ready to make a comeback at China Open after knee injury

Fuzhou: India’s World No. 6 women’s singles player Saina Nehwal is preparing to make her return from injury after suffering a knee injury that caused her abrupt exit at the Rio Olympics in August.

Nehwal’s injury which was diagnosed as a ‘right knee infrapatellar spur displaced fracture with patellar tendon impingement’, told Indian media few weeks ago that injury was a very painful experience for her.

“I was not able to walk, couldn’t bend my knee or even climb the stairs. It was pain everywhere when I tried to straighten my knee during sleep,” said Nehwal.

She then had undergone a surgery to remove a spur in her knee, which had broken off and was pinching the adjoining tendon. Nehwal had also began her rehabilitation process at a Mumbai-based sports physiotherapist after the surgery.

However, Nehwal will not find it easy to get back to the top of badminton as she battles to recover from her injury layoff. She’ll have to overcome World No. 13 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand in the first round, before playing World No. 10 He Bingjiao of China in the second round. She could face compatriot P.V. Sindhu in the quarter-finals if the seeds hold.